In the opinion of Western military and political experts, the high accuracy combined with the range of the Iskander missiles guarantees the Russian military the defeat of even well-protected targets in Europe. "They cannot be stopped or brought down," Western analysts say.
Since its inception in 2009, the High Precision Complexes holding has achieved great success in the Russian and international markets. The products of the holding's enterprises are well known not only to users, but also to their opponents. According to some reports, it was the Syrian "Shell" that shot down the Turkish Phantom reconnaissance aircraft that invaded the airspace of this Arab country. The Kornet anti-tank missile systems have proven to be a deadly weapon for Israeli tanks in Lebanon. For five years, the Kornet ATGM has become one of the most popular anti-tank systems in the world, and its new version with the ability to combat UAVs has already found its buyer. In 2013, a unique enterprise, the manufacturer of the newest Iskander high-precision operational-tactical missile system, the Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering from the city of Kolomna, became part of High-Precision Complexes.
During the press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 19 last year, one of the first questions was asked: has Russia really deployed Iskander tactical missile systems in the Kaliningrad region? Prior to that, on December 15, the German newspaper Bild, referring to space reconnaissance data, stated that Russian OTRKs were seen not only in Kaliningrad, but also along the borders with the Baltic countries. This resulted in a local political crisis with heated statements by European and American politicians and experts under the slogan "The Russians are coming!" Vladimir Putin, responding to reporters, said that the decision on the deployment of OTRK in Kaliningrad has not yet been made. The Russian President also noted: "In its segment, this is the most effective weapon in the world."
Just as the Oka, Temp-S and Pioneer missile systems used to be, so today Iskander has turned from a military weapon into a military-political instrument. It is noteworthy that the US military classifies the newest operational-tactical complex as weapons that "prohibit access to the theater of operations," that is, capable of significantly influencing the balance of forces in the area of a possible conflict and preventing its start by its very presence.
The operational-tactical complex "Iskander" remains one of the most mysterious weapons systems in the arsenal of the Russian army and information about it is rather scarce.
Atomic storm over Europe
If you look closely at the armaments and military equipment of the armies of the developed countries of the world, it is immediately striking that operational-tactical missile systems have found limited use there. In modern armies, they are more focused on strike aviation with high-precision means of aviation destruction. Although back in the 80s and 90s in the arsenal of the same US army there were quite a lot of OTRKs, their quantity and even more so the quality could not be compared with the Elbrus operational-tactical complexes in service with the armies of the USSR and the countries of the Warsaw Pact, "Temp-S", "Tochka" and "Oka". Why is the Soviet, now Russian military leadership betting on OTRK?
Collage by Andrey Sedykh
For an answer to this question, we turned to the historian, author of books and articles on the confrontation between NATO, the USSR and the Internal Affairs Directorate Yevgeny Putilov. “Unlike aviation, which experienced restrictions on weather conditions and the need to preliminarily carry out complex organization of air operations, missile systems could be used for nuclear strikes immediately. The enemy did not have any protection against ballistic missiles."
According to Yevgeny Putilov, the basis of hostilities in Europe was to be made up of strategic operations carried out by coalition groups of fronts according to a single plan and under a single command. “It was assumed,” he says, “that the depth of a front-line offensive operation would be up to one thousand kilometers, and the average rate of advance - up to 100 km / day for a combined arms army and even up to 120 km / day for a tank army. Achievement of such rates was ensured by the destruction of the enemy's combat formations by tactical nuclear weapons simultaneously to the entire depth of the front-line offensive operation."
Also, Yevgeny Putilov explained that since there was practically no nuclear ammunition for artillery in the Soviet army until the early 70s, the main carrier of nuclear weapons available to the front command was the operational-tactical missile systems of the front and army kits. Collage by Andrey Sedykh
“This can be clearly seen in the example of a front advancing from the territory of Bulgaria,” the historian says. - Here, superiority in aviation was on the side of the enemy, although the front was supposed to advance within three or four days to a depth of 150-185 kilometers, and then within a week to carry out a further mission to a depth of 220 kilometers, crossing the Black Sea straits. The main means of breaking into enemy defenses on mountain passes and narrows were operational-tactical missile systems with nuclear weapons."
Soviet OTRKs became a "nuclear club" that paved the way for combined arms formations. It was very difficult for Western countries to track and destroy them. NATO was rescued only by low accuracy and a relatively short firing range of the army OTRK 9K72 "Elbrus" and divisional "Luna". But the situation changed when long-range Temp-S were transferred from the Strategic Missile Forces to the Ground Forces, and high-precision Oka missile systems entered service with the army and front-line missile brigades.
“After the transfer of the 9K76 Temp-S complexes from the Strategic Missile Forces to the Ground Forces in 1970, the front commands were able to strike targets from the first day to the full depth of the front offensive tasks,” notes Yevgeny Putilov. “Then there was the line of demarcation of nuclear strikes by strategic and operational-tactical means, and the goals were already within the competence of the Strategic Missile Forces.”
According to the editor-in-chief of the Military Frontier Internet project, Oleg Kovshar, the Oka and Temp-S type OTRKs, the command took care of: “The preliminary planning of a nuclear strike at the operational level involved only 10-15 percent of these OTRKs,” our interlocutor claims. - The main burden lay on medium-range missiles - they were connected to nuclear weapons, including for the operational level. The available RSD and OTRK type 9K72 allowed this. The main number of Oka and Temp-S complexes was supposed to start working after the beginning of the conflict, that is, to receive target designation in the course of the development of the situation for newly identified targets, such as NATO nuclear attack weapons, helicopter aerodromes, accumulations of operational reserves, etc. etc..
By the mid-80s, the troops of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries began testing the first reconnaissance and strike systems based on the Oka and Temp-S OTRK, target designations for which were issued by ground and aircraft reconnaissance systems, and later on satellite systems. Considering that the time for preparation for the launch, the introduction of the flight task and the launch itself were within 20 minutes for both complexes, the detected object was guaranteed to be destroyed in a period of 30 minutes to one hour. It is noteworthy that in the early 80s, special combat units in the arsenals of the OTRK ousted cluster warheads. The positions of the American Pershing-2 ballistic missiles and the land-based Tomahawk cruise missiles also came under attack from the Oka and Temp complexes. In this situation, US President Ronald Reagan initiated negotiations on the reduction of medium and short-range missiles, which culminated in the signing of an indefinite treaty on the elimination of medium and short-range missiles on December 8, 1987.
“The official motivation of the Americans for the demand to reduce the 9K714 Oka missile system under the INF Treaty was that an American missile of the same size could have a range of 500 kilometers,” says historian Yevgeny Putilov. - Soviet "Oka" on tests showed a maximum flight range of 407 kilometers. However, the position of the Soviet negotiators allowed the Americans to demand a unilateral reduction of the Oka complexes under the slogan "You promised." And that was done."
In the context of the limitations of the INF Treaty, the command of the USSR Armed Forces in 1987 formulated requirements for a promising OTRK capable of hitting well-protected targets with missiles with both nuclear and conventional warheads in the face of enemy opposition, and not only during a missile flight, but also on the stage of its preparation and entering the starting position. Such a complex became the Iskander complex, designed in 1987 by the Kolomenskoye Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau on an initiative basis by order and under the leadership of the chief designer Sergei Pavlovich Invincible.
The birth of a warrior
“In the beginning there was an 8K14 rocket,” says Dmitry Kornev, editor-in-chief of the Militaryrussia Internet project. - Having appeared at the dawn of the 50s on the basis of the German V-2, by the end of the decade the rocket formed the basis of the already effective 9K72 Elbrus missile system. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, there came an awareness of the effectiveness of new directions - military (tactical), army and front-line missile systems, as well as such Western innovations as solid-propellant missiles. And on a broad front, work began on several types of complexes."
According to the expert, in the mid-60s, OKB-2 GKAT (the future "Fakel") came up with a fairly revolutionary project, proposing to create complexes of military missiles "Yastreb" and "Tochka" based on the B-611 anti-aircraft missile. But they were expecting air defense and missile defense systems from OKB-2, so at the end of the 60s, work on the ground direction in the design bureau was curtailed, and the documentation for the "Tochka" was handed over to the Kolomna mechanical engineering design bureau.
“By the end of the 60s, effective mobile chassis, small-sized and more accurate inertial control systems, effective mixed solid fuel and engines based on it, and small-sized nuclear warheads were created in the USSR. On the agenda was the creation of reconnaissance and strike complexes. Therefore, in the 70s and 80s, there was a real boom in the field of short-range missiles,”Kornev told the publication.
The expert also explained that in 1972, due to the workload of MIT with work on the creation of the Temp-2S mobile ICBM, the preliminary design of the 9K711 Uranus complex was submitted for revision to the Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (KBM), where a new 9K714 missile system was created on its basis "Oka". Then the triumphal march of KBM began in the segment of short-range ballistic missile systems.
The 9K714 Oka with a range of up to 500 kilometers was gradually transformed into the 9K717 Oka-U, which was supposed to grow to the Volga with a range of about 1000 kilometers. On the basis of these R&D complexes "Volna" KBM by the end of the 80s - the beginning of the 90s planned to create a completely new class of missile weapons - a unified universal modular missile system, which could be used in the interests of divisions, armies and fronts of various types of missiles, receiving target designation from different sources, "Kornev continued.
According to the expert, on the "Volna" it was planned to introduce retargeting of missiles in flight based on information from aviation and other "eyes and ears" of reconnaissance and strike complexes. But the INF Treaty intervened.
“Initially, the creators of the new 9K715 Iskander two-missile operational-tactical complex aimed at creating a system capable of guaranteed (with two missiles) destroying an important target at a distance of 70 to 300 kilometers. The development of technology made it possible to reduce by several times the number of means necessary to hit important targets. We are talking about a comparison with the 9K72 Elbrus complexes that were in service, which the Iskander was supposed to replace in the 80s. But the signing of the INF Treaty made adjustments to the development of missile systems in our country, and Iskander became Iskander-M - the way we know it now,”summed up Dmitry Kornev.
From rocket to modular system
Work on the Iskander complex began in 1988. Surprisingly, the collapse of the USSR in 1991 had little effect on the creation of a new OTRK. In the summer of 1991, the first throw starts at the Kapustin Yar range took place, and in 1992 the Volgograd plant "Titan" presented the first chassis for the new complex. But in 1993, work on the Iskander was reoriented towards the creation of a "multipurpose modular missile system for the ground forces", which was named Iskander-M.
The newest operational-tactical complex became the pinnacle of creativity of the chief designer of the KBM Sergei Pavlovich Invincible, to which he went, creating "Tochka", "Oka", "Oku-M", etc. The newest "Iskander" embodied all the experience and skills of its creator …
“Now KBM is only improving the Iskander, improving the operation of its components, mechanisms, installing new radio-electronic equipment, sighting systems, etc. The rest was done by Sergei Pavlovich Invincible, having developed a unified universal modular missile system Iskander,” the Voenno -industrial courier Dmitry Kornev.
The new OTRK should hit targets not only with conventional ballistic missiles with different warheads, but also with cruise missiles. In 1995, the first experimental launcher appeared on the Belarusian MZKT chassis, and rockets began to be launched. In 1997, complex tests started at the Kapustin Yar training ground, which ended in 2004 with the adoption of the Iskander-M operational-tactical complex into service with the Russian army. The very next year, the first complexes entered service with the 630th separate missile division of the 60th Combat Use Center in Kapustin Yar. In the same year, a draft of the export model of the Iskander OTRK was presented, which was named Iskander-E (export) and differed from the Russian product by a launcher for one missile with a reduced range instead of two in the Iskander-M version.
Until this year, several missile brigades have already been rearmed with the new complex.
Work on a cruise missile began back in 1999. After state tests in 2007, the R-500 was put into service. Initially, it was assumed that a new modification, Iskander-K, would be created for the cruise missile. Several times the "K" variant appeared at various arms exhibitions, arousing the genuine interest of foreign buyers. But apparently, cruise missiles will be supplied only to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
According to the General Director of KBM Valery Kashin, five types of missiles, both aeroballistic and cruise, have already been developed and adopted, three more are under development. It is noteworthy that the Iskander's ammunition contains missiles with penetrating warheads to destroy bunkers and other enemy fortifications.
The armament of a potential enemy is also not standing still, new air and missile defense systems appear. Now the American Patriot air defense system has undergone significant modernization and is capable of striking aeroballistic targets. The US Navy is also keeping up with the upgraded SM-2 and SM-3 antimissiles. Naval and land systems make up a single integrated theater missile defense system. But the Russian side also has an answer. According to a number of media reports, missiles for the Iskander complex received systems to overcome enemy missile defense. Such measures, implemented back in the Oka OTRK, are passive and active jamming systems hidden in the missile body. When approaching the target, dipole reflectors, small jammers, etc. are separated from the rocket.
NATO headache
The newest Iskander-M operational-tactical missile systems are entering service not only with regional (front-line) subordination missile brigades, but also brigades subordinate to the headquarters of the combined arms armies, replacing the reliable, but already outdated Tochka-U operational-tactical missile systems. …
According to an independent military expert, one of the authors of the book "Tanks of August", dedicated to the Russian-Georgian conflict in August 2008, Anton Lavrov, "Iskander" with its significantly increased accuracy and range compared to "Tochka-U" brigades. For the first time after the abandonment of the INF, the Ground Forces have at their disposal their own long arm, capable of striking key small-sized enemy targets in its deep rear practically to the entire depth of front-line aviation.
“In the modern conflict, Iskander-M will take on the tasks of the Temp-S OTRK and, possibly, the Pioneers, reduced under the INF Treaty, while possessing the Oka's range characteristics,” suggested the editor-in-chief of the Military Frontier Internet project »Oleg Kovshar.
According to Western experts, the Iskander-M tactical missile system, with its high accuracy and an arsenal of missiles for all occasions, will find a worthy application not only in a major war, but also in a local conflict to destroy bases, places of concentration, and fortified positions of militants. And in combination with the latest Russian reconnaissance systems, the missiles of the complex can hit targets in real time.
Some foreign countries are also interested in purchasing the newest complex. But, according to Andrei Frolov, editor-in-chief of the Export and Armament magazine, due to the negative reaction of the West and the INF Treaty, it is unlikely that these negotiations will become known before the deal is concluded. “The CIS countries, in particular Armenia, Belarus, are also interested in these complexes. Perhaps even Ukraine to replace its Tochki-U. Also "Iskander-E" may be of interest to Iran or Iraq, "Frolov suggested.
The newest Iskander-M complex produced by the Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau has taken its rightful place in the arsenal of the Russian army. The complex will cope not only with a high-tech enemy, but also with militants in local conflicts. The enterprise, headed by Valery Kashin, continues to improve the OTRK, in its arsenal there are the latest not only aeroballistic, but also cruise missiles. The KBM leadership and its employees were able to create a unique weapon system in a short time, which earned a high appraisal of the domestic and foreign military, as well as the President of Russia. Now, when KBM became part of the holding company NPO High-Precision Complexes, which made it possible to form a closed control loop in the creation of high-precision weapons for the operational and tactical zone of general-purpose forces, work on Iskander will reach a new quality level, making the OTRK destructive and versatile …
